These three gaps are all located in strategically important, even somewhat desolate, areas with insufficient supplies, making them unsuitable for large-scale garrisoning or for marching through.
Putting aside everything else, if the enemy attacks from these three routes, their supplies will not be able to keep up, and they will be easily surrounded and killed by the approaching army.
Each of these three places originally had several thousand garrison troops, more than enough to prevent a small force from sneaking in.
However, Emperor Qingyuan knew all too well the extent to which a country's emperor was obsessed with repeating crossbows. If they found out about this news, they would go crazy like hungry wolves seeing meat!
The real danger is that they might take an unconventional route in their pursuit of the repeating crossbows, and if a headstrong general were to charge in, fighting and looting his way in, that would be very troublesome.
Therefore, he felt at ease only after sending people over first.
Hangu Pass is located 200 li north of Yonghe County, and 100 li west of here is Yi Shuihan's army.
More than 150 li east of Hangu Pass is Yixiantian (a narrow gorge), and 300 li east of Yixiantian is the border area with the Xiongnu, which is the territory of the ever-victorious general Li Yun.
There were no large-scale armies in the section from Yixiantian to Hangu Pass, and this time, Xiao Yi led 20,000 troops to fill the gap in this area.
While Emperor Qingyuan was urgently mobilizing troops to strengthen border defenses, the unsuspecting people were celebrating the harvest, a phenomenon particularly evident in Tai'an Prefecture.
After two years of severe drought and no harvest, the people are now moved to tears by the sight of the fields full of golden crops, and the autumn harvest has begun in various places.
Perhaps it was God's compensation for the two years of severe drought in Tai'an Prefecture, but this year the weather has been exceptionally favorable, and the corn, sorghum, and millet are all plump and full, looking particularly pleasing.
While everyone else was busy husking corn, harvesting millet, and picking sorghum, the villagers of Xiejia Village were busy collecting medicinal herbs.
Since the goods were destined for Tai'an Prefecture, Xie Baotian had everyone dry them before sending them over together for easier transport.
The harvest of medicinal herbs is also good, but the price is still uncertain. Many families who do not grow medicinal herbs, as well as those in the surrounding villages, are watching to see how many more copper coins they can earn from these herbs compared to growing sorghum and corn.
Some people, seeing Xie Baotian having everyone dry the medicinal herbs, asked questions.
How much weight did it lose after drying?
"If we plant several acres of medicinal herbs and don't make much money, what will this family eat for a year?"
Xie Baotian said with full confidence
"These medicinal herbs are cheaper when wet and more expensive when dried. Nobody's a fool. Among all the herbal medicine shops in the city, who can negotiate a lower price for whom?"
Anyway, the harvest is there for all to see. If you don't trust me, you can go sell it yourselves!
In the past, people might have questioned it, but now, they're not stupid; they know which side is stronger.
Let alone how much money they make from growing those few acres of medicinal herbs, just consider how much money Xie Yushu brought back to the village after she became wealthy, which she used to buy sacrificial fields and build a clan school.
They have plenty of money, why would they be short of money for a few acres of medicinal herbs?
As a result, Xiejia Village was united as never before, and they worked together to neatly arrange the medicinal herbs, just waiting to sell them for a good price to show them.
After the medicinal herbs were brought home and dried, each household began harvesting corn, sorghum, and millet.
Meanwhile, Xie Yushu figured that the medicinal herbs were almost ready to be collected. Just then, the delivery convoy from the manor returned, so she sent the convoy over and had Chunyu go with them to collect the herbs. This saved everyone the trouble of hiring donkey carts to transport them.
Chunyu caused a huge sensation as soon as she arrived at Xiejia Village with the convoy!
Twenty neatly arranged horse-drawn carts were parked at the entrance of Xiejia Village, attracting adults and children from all around to watch. When they heard that the carts were there to collect medicinal herbs, they lingered, debating whether the herbs or the corn were more valuable.
Seeing that he no longer needed to transport the herbs to Tai'an Prefecture, Xie Baotian quickly told everyone to go home and bring over their own medicinal herbs, weigh them, and load them onto the cart. At the same time, he didn't forget to go to Phoenix Mouth to tell Huya about Xiao Dayong and Xiao Zhengde's family.
Huya and Li Shi initially trusted Xie Yushu wholeheartedly, and each family planted five acres of medicinal herbs.
Xiao Zhengde was cautious by nature and only cultivated two mu of land.
In Xiejia Village, most families cultivate five mu of land, while a few families, fearing they wouldn't make money, cultivate two mu or one mu. Then there are two or three families who are on good terms with Xie Dafu, and they don't cultivate any land at all.
When it came time to make money, everyone was on tenterhooks; those who planted a lot were afraid of losing money, and those who planted a little were afraid of paying too much.
Xie Baotian's family grows the most crops, with fifteen mu of land planted. The remaining land is used to grow millet and corn, but since it's not enough, they plan to buy wheat flour and rice to improve their diet.
Now Xie Baotian and his family have more land, are richer, and their daughters and sons are successful. Gradually, they are also willing to spend more on food and clothing.
Once everyone had arrived, Chunyu started having people check the moisture content, weigh the goods, and exchange money for goods.
The herbs planted by everyone are common medicinal herbs, including motherwort, indigo leaves, isatis root, carnation, plantain seeds, and salvia miltiorrhiza.
The medicinal herbs were almost completely dried, so Chunyu bought them at two prices: fully dried and semi-dried.
A pound of fully dried motherwort costs three copper coins, while a pound of partially dried motherwort costs two copper coins.
Both Daqingye (Isatis tinctoria) and Dianthus chinensis are priced the same as Leonurus japonicus.
Fully dried Isatis root costs five copper coins per pound, while partially dried Isatis root costs three copper coins per pound.
Plantain seeds cost twenty copper coins per pound, and they are all dried.
Dried Salvia miltiorrhiza costs twenty copper coins per pound, while semi-dried Salvia miltiorrhiza costs twelve copper coins per pound.
Although Dianthus chinensis and Leonurus japonicus are inexpensive, they have extremely high yields.
Although plantain seeds and salvia miltiorrhiza are a bit more expensive, their yields are slightly lower.
Finally, combining the ingredients of Daqingye (Isatis tinctoria), Dianthus chinensis, and Leonurus japonicus, the yield per mu (unit of land area) is approximately three taels of silver.
Plantain seeds can be sold for about four taels of silver per mu (unit of land area).
Salvia miltiorrhiza is the most profitable crop; one mu (approximately 0.16 acres) can fetch about six taels of silver.
Of course, this also depends on the quality of the land and how well it is cared for.
Even the worst quality corn is still worth several times more than regular corn.
Even if you only plant two acres of motherwort, you can earn six or seven taels of silver. Planting indigo leaves is even more profitable, because indigo leaves and isatis root are the same thing. It's like selling the leaves once and the roots again, only they are harvested separately.
One mu of land can be sold for seven or eight taels of silver.
Several families who planted five acres of Daqingye (a type of Chinese citronella) sold it for thirty-four taels of silver, which made those who didn't plant it extremely envious!
The harvest from their five mu of land is equivalent to that from their thirty-five mu!
The Xie family planted fifteen mu of land and harvested over 120 taels of silver from various medicinal herbs. The Huya and Li families also each sold over 20 taels of silver.
The families who followed Xie Baotian in farming, although they didn't farm as much land as Xie Baotian, still sold their land for twenty or thirty taels of silver. Almost every family in Xie Family Village became rich overnight, and they couldn't stop smiling.
The onlookers in Sanliwutun were filled with envy, and many began to speak highly of Xie Baotian, expressing their desire to plant medicinal herbs with him next year.
The two families who were on good terms with Xie Dafu were filled with regret, slapping themselves repeatedly for being so foolish as to follow Xie Dafu in bullying Xie Baotian's family.
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